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1963 South Korean presidential election

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Field	Value
country	Republic of Korea
flag_year	1949
type	presidential
previous_election	August 1960 South Korean presidential election
previous_year	1960
next_election	1967 South Korean presidential election
next_year	1967
election_date	15 October 1963
image1	Park Chung-hee 1963's.png
nominee1	Park Chung Hee
party1	Democratic Republican Party (South Korea)
popular_vote1	4,702,640
percentage1	46.65%
image2	Yun Po-sun (3x4 cropped).jpg
nominee2	Yun Po-sun
party2	Civil Rule
popular_vote2	4,546,614
percentage2	45.10%
map	{{Switcher
title	President
before_election	Park Chung Hee (acting)
before_party	Democratic Republican Party (South Korea)
after_election	Park Chung Hee
after_party	Democratic Republican Party (South Korea)

Presidential elections were held in South Korea on 15 October 1963. They were the first elections since the 1961 May Coup, and the first during the Third Republic. The result was a narrow victory for the acting incumbent and leader of the governing military Supreme Council for National Reconstruction, Park Chung Hee, who received 47% of the vote, securing a transition to civilian rule under his Democratic Republican Party. The total voter turnout was 85%. As of 2025, this remains the only direct presidential election in which the winning candidate did not also come first place in bellwether North Chungcheong Province.

The elections were marked by a number of irregularities.

Background

General Park Chung Hee, who had led the military government of South Korea since his coup in 1961, agreed to return the power to civil politicians on 8 April 1963, at the same time as announcing he would run for the presidency of the new civilian government. This was after he announced his plans to extend the military rule for another four years, to which United States reacted by threatening to cease all economic aid.

Nominations

Military

The military formed the Democratic Republican Party in February, and Park Chung Hee, who had officially retired from military service the day before, accepted DRP nomination for president in October.

Park Chung-hee poster of the election in 1963.

On 3 September, members of the military that were critical of Park's dictatorial behaviour split and formed the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), nominating former Chief of Staff of the Army and former interim prime minister Song Yo-chan for president. Members of the party were oppressed by the government for doing this. Song later withdrew and endorsed Yun Po-sun.

Civilian

Civilian politicians were deeply divided into multiple parties rather than unifying against Park. On 14 May, Former President Yun Po-sun and his followers founded the Civil Rule Party (CRP), which nominated Yun as its presidential candidate. Also claiming to represent the civilian politicians was the New Politics Party (NPP), which nominated former Prime Minister Heo Jeong as its candidate.

When it became clear that Park would win easily if both candidates ran, Yun suggested that the civilians unite under one party, which the NPP agreed to. The People's Party (PP) was officially founded in September, uniting the CRP, NPP and Democratic Friendship Party of former Prime Minister Lee Beom-seok. However, after failing to reach an agreement on whether to nominate Yun or Heo for president, on 13 September, the Civil Rule Party split from the PP and officially re-nominated Yun for president. The factions of Heo and Lee, which remained in the PP, nominated Heo.

On 2 October, Heo withdrew his bid for presidency and endorsed Yun, hoping to help defeat Park, which ultimately resulted in failure.

Results

By province and city

Province/City	Park Chung Hee	Yun Po-sun	Oh Jae-young	Pyon Yong-tae	Jang I-seok	Democratic Republican Party (South Korea)}}"		Civil Rule Party}}"		Independent}}"		Others}}"
Seoul	371,627	30.17	Civil Rule Party}};"	802,052	Civil Rule Party}};"	65.12	20,634	1.68	26,728	2.17	10,537	0.86
Busan	Democratic Republican Party (South Korea)}}; color:white;"	242,779	Democratic Republican Party (South Korea)}}; color:white;"	48.21	239,038	47.47	11,214	2.23	7,106	1.41	3,419	0.68
Gyeonggi	384,764	33.06	Civil Rule Party}};"	661,984	Civil Rule Party}};"	56.88	54,770	4.71	34,775	2.99	27,554	2.37
Gangwon	296,711	39.57	Civil Rule Party}};"	368,092	Civil Rule Party}};"	49.09	35,568	4.74	24,924	3.32	24,528	3.27
North Chungcheong	202,789	39.78	Civil Rule Party}};"	249,397	Civil Rule Party}};"	48.92	26,911	5.28	15,699	3.08	14,971	2.94
South Chungcheong	405,077	40.79	Civil Rule Party}};"	490,663	Civil Rule Party}};"	49.41	47,364	4.77	26,639	2.68	23,359	2.35
North Jeolla	Democratic Republican Party (South Korea)}}; color:white;"	408,556	Democratic Republican Party (South Korea)}}; color:white;"	50.04	343,171	42.03	27,906	3.42	18,617	2.28	18,223	2.23
South Jeolla	Democratic Republican Party (South Korea)}}; color:white;"	765,712	Democratic Republican Party (South Korea)}}; color:white;"	57.22	480,800	35.93	51,714	3.86	17,312	1.29	22,604	1.69
North Gyeongsang	Democratic Republican Party (South Korea)}}; color:white;"	837,124	Democratic Republican Party (South Korea)}}; color:white;"	55.65	543,392	36.12	58,079	3.86	31,113	2.07	34,622	2.30
South Gyeongsang	Democratic Republican Party (South Korea)}}; color:white;"	706,079	Democratic Republican Party (South Korea)}}; color:white;"	61.18	341,971	29.63	60,645	5.26	19,323	1.67	26,014	2.25
Jeju	Democratic Republican Party (South Korea)}}; color:white;"	81,422	Democratic Republican Party (South Korea)}}; color:white;"	69.89	26,009	22.32	3,859	3.31	2,207	1.89	3,006	2.58
Total	Democratic Republican Party (South Korea)}}; color:white;"	4,702,640	Democratic Republican Party (South Korea)}}; color:white;"	46.65	4,546,614	45.10	408,664	4.05	224,443	2.23	198,837	1.97

References

[[Dieter Nohlen]], Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) ''Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II'', p420 {{ISBN. 0-19-924959-8
Nohlen ''et al''., p464
"Park Declared Winner In Korea" ''The Miami News'', 19 October 1963, p8A
(2011). "The Park Chung Hee Era". Harvard University Press.
이, 윤섭. (2012-07-31). "박정희 정권의 시작과 종말 1". ebookspub(이북스펍).
"신정당(新政黨)".

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